Near Death Experience

I've just been to see the new Clint Eastwood film Hereafter. It set me thinking.

A long time ago, more than half my life, I went through an experience that shocked my soul to the core.
In the ventilator ward, the only conscious patient amongst the crash victims and the guy with tetanus, laid out almost totally paralysed, yet fully conscious, being kept alive by the air pumped into my lungs via the tube cut into my trachea.
I'd been having physio. As was common, I had bad pneumonia, so the physiotherapist used to come around every day and beat my chest with cupped hands. I grew to like the percussive rhythm and the contact.
While she beat away with her rhythm, another nurse would disconnect me from the ventilator and "bag me" manually with a balloon type gizmo attached to the tracheotomy tube. Every so often she would disconnect the bag and insert a suction catheter down into my trachea while the physio pushed down on my chest to simulate a cough. They'd suck all the crap out, attach the bag and do some more percussion.
While this was going on, the ventilator technician would service the machine.
This time when they hooked me back up to the machine, something, I don't know what, went wrong. I wasn't getting any air. Every cell in my body started screaming for oxygen, the physical panic was a tidal wave that ripped through me. As the panic wracked me, sight faded, body sense faded, sound faded and then came the calm.
I found myself disembodied, floating above a crystal clear lake. It was only small, the water shallow with smoothed stones about the size of a spread hand. Lush green foliage with small shiny leaves overhung the water. I was as conscious and able to think as I am here now writing this. Yet I was suffused with the "peace that passes all understanding". This was something of a revelation to me and I didn't want to go back to the horrors of the HDU.
All to soon though, sound started to infiltrate the peace and it faded. I was left with the imprint in my psyche,"death is easy, it's the living that is hard, but necessary for the learning"
Body sense and sight slowly returned. I was left stunned and with a terrible head ache. But the fear had gone. It never came back through the rest of a long illness and recovery, and to this day, I am able to tap a certain fearlessness when it is needed.

Mia Culpa

The way I see it, current political failings are our fault as much as the fault of the elite.
While we seek leaders and are unwilling or uncaring enough to watch them closely, we will always have corrupt behaviour. Although we spout democracy, we behave mostly as if we lived in Monarchies. We love the "strong" leader. We love the pomp and ceremony, the celebrity. We believe we are still the chattels of the ruler appointed by God. We are still the primate picking the fleas out of the fur of the dominant male or female.

How many people voted in Bush (GW)? If I recall correctly, it was 25% of people of voting age, or thereabouts.When most people are faced with the need to improve the situation, they are mostly happy to let someone else do the work, so long as they can complain about how it was done. With that sort of apathy in the population, I'd imagine that the elite think they can do what they like with little interference. And that is mostly how it goes. It is only when conditions get tough that the "average" person works up enough caring to do anything.

It is up to those who see and care to take a stand against the failings of Government. It is also up to those who see and care, to attempt to bring the apathetic along for the ride, for without their support, we have no democratic legitimacy and we become another lot of elitists imposing their view upon the population.

Belief, Filter of the Senses.

We experience the world in our minds. The information, that is used to assemble that world, comes through the channel of our senses. Our beliefs influence the information we receive and the way we process it.

This then leads us, if we wish to see the world in as clear and objective way as possible, to the necessity of clearing out the belief system of any inaccuracies.

What is the belief system and what is it for?

The belief system is in place as a shortcut in processing information. It's the TV dinner of cognition. Just heat and serve, all the hard work has already been done.It is akin to reflex and instinct. It is there to speed up the processing of data and adds some consistency to output. The belief system provides a whole series of preconceived scenarios that can be utilized, when deemed applicable, instead of processing the data on it's merits. There is also the function of aligning ones thought processes with the group one is associated with.
We can see from this that it is a useful adjunct to normal cognition, however, it's nature of circumventing true cognition is where the dangers lie.
If the belief system is constantly adjusted to the perceived circumstances of reality, then it is a useful tool, but frequently it is used as a lazy abrogation of the need to actually think about the true nature of reality and the interplay of the varying elements.
The willing acceptance of authority's pronouncements into our belief system, lends itself to manipulation and abuse by those authorities.
As previously analysed in "The Pathology of the Belief System" there are numerous internally consistent (mostly) constructs of belief "infecting" the population. The most powerful, in their ability to warp perception, are the religions. These take the natural wonder of reality and our relation to it, and, to varying degrees, subvert it to thought control for the benefit of the hierarchy of the religion. The isms of political thought are of a similar nature, and are often co infective with the religious.

Whilst we accept belief systems without rigorous analysis and suitable modifications, we are immersed in an illusion and are not able to accurately process available information. We behave in irrational fashions. We may even descend into active hate and violence, a true outward sign of delusion.
Garbage in, garbage out.

Free your mind.

Choose Happiness !!

The Brain and Time.

In the Judaeo-Christian Mythology, humanity was exiled from the garden and prevented from reentering by an angel wielding a flaming two edged sword.We were exiled for partaking of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Translation.
The garden is the natural state of being. In that natural state, the organism functions through reflex, instinct and in higher animals, rudimentary cognition.It is a state of innocence in that there is no concept of right and wrong. Action is dictated by reaction, needs and instinct.
At one point, the ancestors of modern man reached a point of development where the concept of right and wrong evolved out of the biological pleasure\pain mechanism.
We are kept from the "natural" state of being by the faculties of the mind. The two edge sword represents the discriminatory function of the mind and the flame represents the inspirational receptivity and output of higher abstract thought.
Once our ancestors developed the faculties represented by the two edged sword, we were no longer able to solely operate in the instinctive way. We now saw the opposites, right and wrong , good and bad, we discovered free choice. We now became unpredictable. A great advantage in the survival stakes.

This was an over simplified explanation of the evolution of consciousness for a time when the knowledge of the workings of the world was limited and the education of the people was minimal.

Let's try again with the benefit of our increase in knowledge.

I suggest that the nervous system and the brain in particular is an organ for the capture and processing of time.In its most rudimentary form,the nervous system is purely capture of information, a function of time, and a preprogrammed reflexive response. Example: a fly lands on a sundew. The plant senses the landing and reflex closes the trap. As far as we know that is about the extent of the sundews mental capabilities.There is minimal processing involved.
So we have Information - capture -processing -action.
As the organism becomes more complex, the sense organs become more developed and the range of inputs increase.The length of time capture also increases, we call this memory. Because of the wider range, and greater length of time/information sensed, greater processing power is needed, to both decode, manipulate, and then activate a more and more complex structure.
I suggest the evolutionary advantage was the ability to overcome reflex, and thus lose predictability and gain flexibility. The higher turn was to do the same with instinct.
Modern Human, with his broad range of sense perception, long and detailed memory and recall, Abstract thinking ability and the ability to not only control a flexible and complex body, but also operate fast and complex machinery as if it was an extension of the body, captures a vast amount of time/information.

The brain uses the flow of time in a similar way to electricity. The longer an impulse can be held in the equipment the more processing is possible.The more complex the brain the longer the segment of time can be held for processing.
The human brain is able to remember a large proportion of what has been experienced.This is captured time. We are able to decouple our awareness from the current flow of time,and recall a segment of time for greater processing. In the coupled awareness of the flow of time, we do not have the speed of thought needed to do much more than experience and act reflexively.
Ones normal time perception is similar to the 25 frames /second of movie film.We sample the actual flow, and process. We switch our awareness back and forth, the rate of switching being dependent on the intensity of the information or the needed depth of processing.
Example; riding a motorcycle, requires rapid sampling and reflex, with little need for higher processing, so the impression is of being in the now.With perhaps the opposite, meditation, being almost all attention focused in the processing, sampling frequency is slow,and the time sense becomes heavily distorted.

With this recalled segment, we are able to replay at various speeds and definition, alter perspective, run alternate projections, compare to similar segments etc etc. The greater our ability to concentrate (focus) on the remembered segment,the more we are able to do with the stored time/information.

The evolutionary impulse that powers this trend line is the ability to predict the future.It is a great advantage that is used by many organisms.The learning of a prey's behaviour, so that one may easily capture it, is a prime and simple example.
For humans it becomes more complex. Look around in society and see where predictive behaviour is. Many high paid positions are reliant on this ability. Finance and the stock market, driving and flying, sport, politics etc.,
There is no future as such, it is purely a potential. However the flow of energy in time is able to be manipulated, and predicted. Both of these are dependant on the organisms ability to capture and process time.

So we see that what we call intelligence has as it's prime function, the ability to both attempt to predict the future, and modify it to a required state.As we do with other aspects of our environment.

The Bubble

We are patterns on the skin of an expanding 4D (time) bubble.
What happens when it stretches too thin?
Do we get the Big Pop?

This, of course, could be a poor analogy.

A little bit of Time

There is no such thing as an event.
They are cognitive constructs.
The events we talk about are but a slice out of the flow of time. To think about the " event" we have to disconnect from the conscious apprehension of the flow of time and focus on a discreet moment. Whilst we are thus engaged, reality/time continues to pass our conciousness by.
The events that we talk about are not singular discreet occurrences, but the outcome of an infinite number of lines of force/time/consequence intersecting. Emitted from these "events"is a new infinite batch of force/time/consequence lines than intersect with others to create the next moment.
It is something like a chain reaction. It lies behind matter and energy.
Now is the time event horizon of the big bang after all.
The next moment does not exist.

The Irrational Taxation Debate

In this, and many other countries, we have a situation with taxation that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
The people have needs that are being met, or at least someway to being met by government service provision. This of course has to be paid for by taxation.
So what is tax? It is the fee we have to pay as citizens for the services we require. If this taxation is to be fairly weighted, then the higher wealth citizens would pay more, as they, as a rule get to use more of the services and benefits provided by Government. In a compassionate society this is a necessary subsidy.
There is an onus on Government to use these funds wisely. This is a matter of quality of management.
Unfortunately, there is a mindset that has crept into the debate over taxation, that taxation should be minimised. To do this, services are cut, or allowed to drift into an underfunded position as inflation eats up their budgets. Same result. I have no problem with reviews into wasteful practise and previous pork barreling.
The reality is, if we require these services then we have to pay for them. If we do not have them provided by the public sector, which I support for many reasons including the cost effectiveness as there is no need to put a profit margin on top of the cost of provision, then they have to be provided by the private sector. This is a less than ideal situation because of the aforementioned profit margin, the drive for that margin leading to aggressive cost cutting that degrades the quality of service. This is understandable from the perspective of the private (corporate) entity, as their prime motivation is profit. However it is not good for the recipients of the given service. There is their other option which is to increase the price that consumers have to pay. This is often by those least able to.

Now we come to the crux. Under the private provision of these services there is no subsidy,unless some special deal has been struck, and therefore the wealthy avoid their societal responsibility of helping those less fortunate. Many of those that whine about having to pay a little extra for the health care of the old and sick, fail to take into account the welfare that they receive through child support and education (even private schools are subsidised by the taxpayer) etc. The well to do also get to use the infrastructure more, as they have a higher level of activity. Then there is the welfare/subsidisation of business, both private and multinational corporates. Fuel subsidies, special provision of infrastructure, and all sorts of handouts.

So why do our politicians have this pathological fear of raising sufficient taxation for our needs?
It's actually even worse than that. Whilst degrading many services because of the undefined "need to cut government spending", they hand out tax cuts. (mostly biased to the well off). We see even in the situation of the current flood crisis, when the possibility of raising a bit extra to help the recovery was floated, the chorus of " cut spending instead" was wheeled out again. How cutting services in one area to pay in another is overall effective, is beyond my comprehension. These people need help, and the general population seems keen to provide it. The politicians once again turn the needs of the hurting into a cheap plastic football. Shame on you all.
Lets look at the US situation at present. They are running huge deficits to pay for the previous administrations tax cuts to the wealthy and their aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq, whilst handing over large sums to the banking industry and trying to stimulate the economy after the GFC. Now the people that set up this debacle are trumpeting spending cuts, not to their military adventure I might add, and tax cuts. How one stimulates an economy by applying the brakes, I don't know. It seems to me that the current problem is reduced activity caused by fear. Admittedly some have reduced ability to participate at previous levels, but many do have the ability and don't. You can't increase activity with borrowed money for too long without ending up in a debt hole that will take forever to get out of. This appears to be the US situation at present.
The solution. Raise taxation to fund increased activity. No debt, no interest, and the money ends up going around and ending up back in tax receipts. The funds dispersed by Government through increased service provision end up in the hands of the people( we won't go into the imbalance now), who then spend it etc etc etc. Each step of the flow is taxed.
I suggest the wealthy and the super wealthy should be the prime benefactors as they have the ability to put funds aside, which to an extent chokes the flow, whereas the less well off spend every cent they get which keeps the flow running. Some say that taxation chokes the flow, but this is a misunderstanding of energy dynamics. Provided the money is returned to the flow through provision of services, it is not the case. It is taking it out of the flow that chokes the system.

We have to remember that Money does not exist as a discreet entity. It is an abstract symbol that represents the energy flow through society.